Slow Tomatoes, Cajun Cooking, ana Crime

I have been asked many times to provide recommendations for the best geographical mystery writers. Here are my current favorites. I recommend any of their books. MY seminar students read the books listed in parentheses.

K.C. Constantine—His mysteries play out in the grim coal mining country of western Pennsylvania. He takes you to the most miserable, barren settings you've ever seen (The Man Who Liked Slow Tomatoes).

Tony Hillerman—When he stays in Navajo country, no one can touch his sense of place.

Arthur Upfield—My very favorite. He wrote evocatively about the Australian outback, capturing environmental and racial issues long before they were in vogue (The Tom Branch).

James Lee Burke—You can smell the ozone and Cajun cooking in his tough Louisiana novels (A Stained White Radiance).

Linda Barnes—Her cab-driving, female P.I. knows every nook and crook in Boston. Barnes captures the changing socio-economics of place.

Dana Stabenow—Her Alaska crackles with excitement. Kate Shugak, her native sleuth, knows her landscape and her people (A Cold-Blooded Business).

Paco Igancio Taibo ll—One of the most prolific and interesting Latin American writers today. Political content clearly overrules any standard formulas.

Robert van Gulik—Transports the reader to Tang-dynasty China to witness Judge Dee's sleuthing prowess. His own drawings and maps grace most of his stories.

Donna Leone—Her novels set in Venice are literate, intelligent, and mature, as is her wonderful detective Brunetti.

Lindsey Davis—Falco, die Roman detective, explores the corners of the Old City and the Empire. Wonderful historical geography.

Archer Mayor—A Vermont writer who captures small-town northern New England in thoughtful and literate novels.

Demko